


Repent

by fabrega



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Blackwatch Era, Canon Era, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-12-05 17:59:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11583303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fabrega/pseuds/fabrega
Summary: Reaper probably expects Jesse to panic, to plead or to shout or to go for his own weapon. He obviously doesn't expect Jesse's actual reaction, which is to peer closely at the Reaper mask and demand to know: "Where did you get those guns?""They were given to me," Reaper says. "By someone I cared about."





	Repent

**Author's Note:**

  * For [smarshtastic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/smarshtastic/gifts).



> Blackwatch Week Day 1: Weapons
> 
> Thanks, as always, to the wonderful and awesome [smarshtastic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/smarshtastic/). ♥

Jesse recognizes the Reaper as soon as he sees him.

Well, that's not exactly true. The first time Jesse sees the Reaper is on the security footage Winston sends him from the Gibraltar watchpoint. Jesse squints at the footage, tiny on the screen of the old comm he'd smuggled out of Overwatch back in the day. He'd never quite managed to get rid of it, and now he's glad--it's the same comm he'd received the recall on, the same comm he hasn't yet used to respond. He's not sure if the footage from Winston is an enticement or a guilt trip or just a heads up, but he watches it again and again, taps through the different angles, peers at the figure in black that very pointedly doesn't kill Winston and wills the tiny, grainy footage to be clearer, more conclusive. The way the Reaper moves, the way he shoots, the way he holds himself--they're all painfully familiar. 

_It's impossible,_ Jesse thinks. _Gabe Reyes is dead, dead and buried._

(He still doesn't answer the recall. What the hell does he owe Overwatch?)

He puts it out of his thoughts as best he can, minds his own business, definitely doesn't sleep poorly for a while with dreams of Gabe Reyes, engulfed in flames and screaming. But it's not enough; trouble tracks him down regardless, and he finds himself in front of the Reaper, staring down the barrels of a very distinctive set of shotguns.

That's when he knows for sure.

Reaper probably expects Jesse to panic, to plead or to shout or to go for his own weapon. He obviously doesn't expect Jesse's actual reaction, which is to peer closely at the Reaper mask and demand to know: "Where did you get those guns?"

Jesse needs to know. Maybe the grainy security footage was wrong. Maybe the wraith standing in front of him had killed Gabe Reyes, had looted the shotguns from Gabe's corpse. Maybe this is all a misunderstanding, and Jesse can kill the thing in front of him with no compunction.

"They were given to me," Reaper says. "By someone I cared about."

"'Cared'? Past tense?"

"He left me," Reaper grits out, shoving the shotguns into Jesse's chest. " _You_ left me. If anyone moved things into the past tense, it's you."

Jesse's stomach is churning, and his brain is going a mile a minute, but he manages to keep his face and voice steady as he says, "I left because I cared about you too much. Did then, still do." Reaper snorts, and Jesse continues, sticking his chin out defiantly, "I gave you those guns because I cared about you. I certainly didn't give you them for you to shoot me with them."

"I don't think you get any say in what I do with them anymore." Reaper presses the shotgun forward, putting his finger on the trigger, and Jesse closes his eyes.

*

Jesse finds out about it in stages.

At first, all he knows is the same thing that the rest of Blackwatch seems to know: that Commander Reyes occasionally goes missing from the base at and for unspecified periods of time. No one knows where he goes (or, more likely, Jesse just isn't allowed to know) and rumors abound. Most people think he's being sent out on special missions by Strike Commander Morrison, missions of the utmost importance to the safety and security of the world, missions that only he is authorized to know about. Others have different, crazier ideas--extravagant vacations on Overwatch's dime, a secret family he's legally obligated to visit, an occasional day job at a Kofi Aromo somewhere. Jesse laughs these off as unlikely, but doesn't have any better ideas.

Then, as he works his way up the Blackwatch chain of command, Jesse is privy to more information. Reyes _is_ out on assignment when he goes missing, although only he seems to know the details. He always knows about how long he'll be away. He always goes alone. He always comes back dark and brooding, a glint in his eye and a storm cloud on his brow.

Jesse asks him, once, if he ever ends up needing backup on these missions. Reyes stops, stares at him for a long moment, then laughs.

"Even if I did, I'm not sure it's the kind of thing anyone can help me with," he says. 

Jesse puzzles over that answer for a while.

Later, after he and Gabe have first started fucking and then started sleeping together--there's a difference, Jesse learns, and he learns that he actually enjoys and prefers the latter--more details trickle out. 

The assignments aren't from Morrison. Gabe won't tell him who they _are_ from, but Jesse manages to piece together that the orders are most likely coming down from someone in a position of power at the UN. Jesse's not sure if Morrison even knows that it's happening, and given his general opinion of Morrison, he's pretty sure he doesn't care.

Gabe doesn't wear or use Blackwatch gear when he goes. "Too recognizable," Gabe says, and Jesse laughs until he realizes that Gabe's not kidding. "The Blackwatch gear has an Overwatch patch right there on the arm. If I get..." he trails off, then starts again. "It's very important that nobody can trace these things back to us."

"What would happen if they did?"

Gabe gives him a very serious look and doesn't answer.

He finally admits to Jesse, when pressed, that he calls them his _Grim Reaper_ missions. "It's not pleasant stuff, the things they have me do," he says. Jesse sits beside him on the bed, rubs circles into his back as Gabe stares down at the floor. "The objectives are important, but so are the ways they're carried out. They're meant as examples, warnings to the people left alive: repent, or this shall happen to you."

"Sounds biblical," Jesse says. He feels the tension start to ease out of Gabe's shoulders as he keeps rubbing them.

"It's some Old Testament bullshit alright," Gabe agrees.

He still comes home brooding, but Jesse is finally in a position to do something about that--pressing Gabe to the bed, kissing his mouth and his throat, twisting fingers up into Gabe until his eyes go unfocused and his jaw unclenches. The storm cloud clears, and Jesse curls around Gabe in the bed and holds him close until the morning.

"The gear is shit, though," Gabe says, after one of the missions. 

Jesse's close at hand, watching Gabe peel himself out of a set of stained and bloodied clothes. It's not entirely clear if the blood on the clothes is Gabe's or not. He quietly catalogs every new cut and scrape and bruise on Gabe; he wishes their line of work wasn't quite so dangerous. "That doesn't sound good."

Gabe shrugs. He's down to his underwear, which he shucks off too before tossing the whole mess into the laundry hamper. "I mean, the tac gear is okay, but the shotguns are so much garbage."

Jesse follows Gabe into the bathroom, where Gabe turns on the water for a shower. Jesse sheds his clothes as well and steps in behind Gabe. He leans in close, speaking quietly between kisses peppered along Gabe's jawline. "Can't you ask your mysterious benefactor for better guns? Bet things would go better if you were better equipped."

"Can't afford anything else. We're pushing it budget-wise as it is." Gabe takes Jesse's face in both his hands and kisses him soundly.

After that, Jesse calls in some favors. He knows that he was supposed to cut all his ties with Deadlock when he joined Blackwatch, and for the most part he has. But there are one or two guys on the outside with whom his name still carries a little bit of weight, and it's one of these guys that he talks to. This guy knows a guy who knows a guy who knows Deadlock's preferred gunsmith, the one who made the weapons all the Deadlock leaders carried, and this chain of people puts the two of them in touch.

Jesse meets with the man, shakes his hand, looks him in the eye.

He places an order.

The next time Gabe gets ready to leave on one of the Grim Reaper missions, Jesse pulls the wrapped package out from under the bed. 

"What's this?" Gabe asks. Jesse knows how he hates surprises, but this is a fairly innocuous one, as surprises go.

"It's a present, for you. Go on, open it."

Gabe eyes him suspiciously, but unties the ribbon and tears opens the box. When he sees the contents, he lets out a disbelieving breath. "Jesse, I can't accept these."

"Well, they were special-made for you, so I can't take them back. You're just gonna have to use 'em."

Gabe picks up one of the shotguns from the box, turning it over carefully in his hands; the wood and polished steel handle glints in the light. He runs careful fingers over the whorl above the hammer and then down the length of the gun. "The craftsmanship on this is incredible. It must've cost a small fortune."

 _It's worth it, for the look on your face,_ Jesse thinks.

Then Gabe notices the small white letters painted above the safety: RPNT

"'Repent'," he says quietly.

"I heard that the Grim Reaper needed better gear," Jesse says. 

The look Gabe is giving him is overwhelmed and almost heart-breaking. 

"Ain't gonna get any better than this. Oh, and I even got one for myself." Jesse reaches under the bed and pulls out a second box. This one isn't wrapped, and he opens it himself, tipping it to show its contents to Gabe. It's a revolver, shiny steel with an inlaid wood handle. There's a spur at the base of the grip, and a whorl above the hammer much like Gabe's.

"It's beautiful," Gabe says. He reaches out and touches it reverently. Jesse's pretty sure he's hiding a smile about the spur, but he won't let Gabe take this joy away from him.

"I call her 'Peacekeeper'," Jesse says.

The smile that Gabe had been hiding breaks out now, and it's genuine. "I bet you do." He leans forward and kisses Jesse.

*

Jesse opens his eyes again. He'd expected his guts to get splattered across the room behind him, but Reaper is still standing in front of him, unmoving.

In Reaper's place, faced with Gabe and the choice to pull the trigger, he's not sure he'd be able to do it either.

"Past tense, huh?" Jesse says quietly. He knows he's tempting fate.


End file.
